A phenomenon quite new in the world＇s history,and most characteristic of the present age, has resulted from these different causes; I allude to the powerlessness of governments to direct opinion.
In the past, and in no very distant past, the action of governments and the influence of a few writers and a very small number of newspapers constituted the real reflectors of public opinion. To-day the writers have lost all infiuence, and the newspapers only refiect opinion. As for statesmen, far from directing opinion,their only endeavour is to follow it. They have a dread of opinion, which amounts at times to terror,and causes them to adopt an utterly unstable line of conduct.